Seattle Seahawks fans hoping to see Russell Wilson in-game action will have to wait at least another week after coach Pete Carroll announced that he won't play in the teams first preseason game on Thursday night against the Denver Broncos.

Carroll cited the backup quarterback competition as the reason for Wilson sitting, but this also eliminates any risk for a serious injury in a meaningless game.

“We’re going to play our young guys a ton,” Carroll told reporters Wednesday via ESPN Seattle. “There will be some mixes in the starting lineup that you’ll see right from the get-go and some guys won’t play in this game. But it’s really the game to get the season started and get these young guys rolling and give them the opportunity to compete like we want to compete around here. We want to see these guys, see if these guys can help our football team and they can’t do it just watching, they need to get out and play.”

The backup quarterback battle between Geno Smith and Paxton Lynch is considered to be a toss-up right now, so Carroll wants to give each of those guys as many chances as he can to win the job.

Smith missed practice on Tuesday because of a personal matter but is still expected to play on Thursday.

How much of the game each guy will play is unclear but that could give a good hint on which guy is leading the quarterback battle at this point of the preseason.